


Merry Christmas, Mom

by SubaruBlue



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Presents, F/F, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers, Gender-neutral Reader, Kissing, Little bit of angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Mentioned Eva (Devil May Cry), One Shot, Other, Reader-Insert, accidental and intentional, don’t worry it’s just cause I’m a huge sap, i made myself cry writing this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:46:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,160
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28307724
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SubaruBlue/pseuds/SubaruBlue
Summary: Some things are irreplaceable when lost. Luckily for Dante, he has you to make things right.
Relationships: Dante (Devil May Cry)/Reader
Comments: 6
Kudos: 64





	Merry Christmas, Mom

**Author's Note:**

> Whew! I was afraid I wouldn’t get this done in time. I’d wanted to do a Christmas one shot since Halloween, but didn’t have any ideas until like two weeks into December, so I wasn’t sure I’d be able to finish and post it in time. Probably didn’t read through it as much as I wanted to and I’m not sure I’m 100% happy with it, but I still think it turned out well. So without further ado, here it is!

You picked up the pace once the neon lights of Dante’s shop and home were visible in the distance. Even from here you could still see the damage from where the devils had busted through the door not but a few days ago.

_ He still hasn’t fixed it... _

Honestly, you really weren’t  _ that _ surprised. The devils had really wrecked the place and Dante had been more than a little depressed about all the damage they’d done, especially to that certain item.

_ At least it looks like his electricity hasn’t been shut off. _

You broke out into a light jog. You were in hurry for two reasons. One: it was really cold out this night. There was already a light bit of snow falling from the sky, the wind had picked up, and it was supposed to get worse. You knew kids everywhere would wake up happy to a white Christmas morning, but right now you were cursing the cold weather. The other reason was in the rectangular gift box clutched tightly to your chest: the Christmas present you had for Dante. Midnight was approaching quickly and you really, _really _ wanted to give it to him before Christmas Day.

It wasn’t what you had planned on getting him at first, but in lieu of the recent catastrophe at the shop, you knew he needed this more than anything else you could give him. You were just thankful you’d had the foresight to think ahead the last time it was almost destroyed in an attack on the shop.

You were a bit concerned though; what you had done to get this for him could technically be considered stealing, except that you’d returned the original item before he’d noticed it was missing. The two of you were just friends so you really had no right to take it without asking, despite your good intentions. Any normal person would probably see it as a breach in privacy and trust, and you were beginning to think Dante would feel no different about the matter, even if he didn’t know about it just yet. Now you worried about how he’d react to what you had done.

_Well, no going back now._ You thought as you reached the steps to his home. You had to work your way around and practically climb over the broken doors that Dante hadn’t even bothered to move; a clear sign he hadn’t even left home since the attack _._ _That’s not good._

And just as you’d thought, it wasn’t. You immediately found him at his desk, slumped over with his head buried in his arms, an empty bottle of whiskey right next to him. Your worry shifted from what he’d think to worry for Dante himself as you clutched his gift a little tighter. He was really taking this hard; not that you could blame him. You couldn’t imagine what you’d have done had something so precious to you been destroyed.

The rest of the room was still in disarray as well; evidence of the huge fight between Dante and the devils that had, yet again, tried to kill him. He hadn’t bothered to clean any of it. Not that he was prone to cleaning up any messes, but he usually would at least throw out broken stuff or tidy up a  _ bit _ if the place got trashed by devils. But there was the couch - still in two pieces, the coffee table was on the other side of the room, broken bottles and other things littered the floor, the TV was busted along with his jukebox (though luckily it looked well enough it could be fixed), and remnants of other items were still strewn about. Only his pool table and desk had managed to survive with minimal damage, though the desk itself was still a bit of a mess from the fight.

The one item you knew had Dante so upset caught your eye from its unusual place on the floor near said desk and you couldn’t help the sorrowful feeling that welled up in you. The frame was completely smashed to pieces and the picture that had been inside it was charred so badly you couldn’t even tell what the picture had been of save for the few spots that still barely showed wisps of blonde hair. You had to fight back the tears knowing that had been the picture of his mother; the only one he’d had.

You knew the story, Dante had told you himself. You were surprised when he’d opened up to you about her and how she’d died trying to save him and his brother. From that alone, you knew she must’ve been an amazing woman. You wished you could have had the chance to meet her; that she could still be here for her son when he needed her the most. Like now. Though you supposed Dante wouldn’t be mourning the loss of her only picture if she were still alive.

You knew you could never fill those shoes of hers, but that didn’t mean you wouldn’t try and be there for her son when you could. Everyone needed a friend to lean on now and then, even someone as tough as Dante. You had never seen him cry personally, but you’d heard from Lady about the one time she had. You wondered if he’d ever let his guard down around you like that. You certainly wished he’d trust you enough for that and more.

Your feelings for the devil hunter may not have been known to  _ him_, but you weren’t in denial at all about them yourself. You’d been in love with him for a long time now, but with the kind of life he led, you figured being friends was as close as you would ever get to the man. But you weren’t here to wallow in your own self-pity; your friend needed you and you weren’t about to let him down.

You approached his desk cautiously. You weren’t sure if he was awake or asleep; drunk or sober and you really didn’t want to be caught off guard. Dante was incredibly strong, being half devil and all. The last thing you wanted for him right now was to feel guilty about accidentally hurting you if you managed to startle him.

“Dante? Hey, you okay?” you spoke softly as you gently shook his shoulder. 

His head turned, and you could his eye closest to you peek out from the safety of his arms to look at you. Upon seeing it was you, he slowly lifted his head as he sat up, the dejected look on his face a far cry from the expression he normally wore.

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

You grimaced. He didn’t even bother to put any effort into making that sound believable. You knew he didn’t like lying to you, especially when it was so obvious, so that told you exactly what he felt he couldn’t say right now: he didn’t want to talk about it. At least he was awake and sober.

But now you were having second thoughts. Was this really a good idea? If he was this upset over it, what would his reaction be? You knew him well enough, but you weren’t for sure how he would react to _this._

“Why are you here anyway? It’s Christmas Eve. Don’t you have family you should be spending that with?” He sounded annoyed, but you knew it wasn’t directed at you. He was trying to hide how much the destruction of his mother’s photo had upset him behind those walls he built up for himself; the walls you wished you could tear down because he didn’t need them around you.

But you couldn’t force him and you wouldn’t have tried even if you could. Instead, you would just have to settle for being there for him…as a friend.

“They’ll be fine without me. I have a friend who needs me more right now.”

He gave a light, humorless laugh at that and opened his mouth to probably tell you something stupid like how he didn’t need anyone or to reiterate that he was fine. It was a load of total crap and you both knew it, and you weren’t going to let him say it. _Now or never, I guess._

“Besides, I wanted to give you this before Christmas Day and I was running out of time.” You cut him off before he could get a single word out and you offered up the neatly wrapped box to him.

He blinked in surprise, caught off guard by the fact that you had actually gotten him anything, even though you always did. It probably had to do with the fact that he always told you _not _to get him anything, since he usually couldn’t afford to reciprocate. Not that  _ that _ would ever stop you. Seeing him happy was more than enough. You just hoped this present would incite that reaction and not the opposite.

He took the package from you with a wry smile and a shake of his head. It was easy to see he wasn’t at his best emotionally, but you kept silent about it; your nervousness about how he would react keeping you from saying anything. Besides, he didn’t like it when people pointed that out anyway, even if he’d never admit it out loud.

He opened it quietly; definitely far more unenthusiastically than he usually opened your gifts, but once he got the paper off the front of the item revealing what was inside his hands froze and you heard his sharp intake of breath.

Staring back at him was the face of his mother in the exact same picture the devils had destroyed just a few days ago. It was even in a similar frame as the one he’d had before. His mouth fell open in surprise.

Even after the initial surprise passed he remained silent, just staring at the picture of his mother, still half wrapped in Christmas paper. The longer he was quiet, the more worried you got. You’d been hoping for a slightly happier reaction, but could you really be surprised at the stunned one he was giving you?

You started to panic a little and tried to fill the awkward silence with words, “S-sorry it took so long to give this to you. I meant to the day after the attack, but I had a bit of trouble finding a similar frame that fit it.” You watched as his brow furrowed, still staring at the photo as his expression turned unusually stern.

Now he was thinking, you could tell. You could almost see the questions running through his mind. How was this possible? Why did you have it? How did you get it?

“How...did you _get this_ _?_ ” You startled a bit when his eyes suddenly lifted from the picture as he spoke the question out loud, pinning you with that same stern gaze. You couldn’t tell if he was still just in shock or if he was actually angry and you were a bit afraid of the latter. Had you overstepped your bounds? You weren’t sure if he’d be okay with what you’d had to do to obtain this copy of his mother’s picture, but what was done was done. It was too late to change anything now anyway, so you figured he deserved the truth at least.

“I may have…borrowed the original a while back...without asking.” You shrunk back just a bit at your admission. God, it  _ really _ sounded bad when you said it out loud.

“What do you mean by _borrowed_ , exactly?” Luckily, Dante didn’t seem quite mad yet; just _very _ suspicious. Hopefully, your explanation would prevent any anger on his part. Your intentions had been good, at the very least. Maybe he would appreciate that? You certainly hoped so.

“You remember a while back, the last time a devil barged into your shop and broke the frame when it got knocked over?” You waited for him to nod before you continued, “Well it sorta got me thinking about what _could _have happened and I worried, you know, since you told me afterwards that was the only surviving photo you had of her.”

You were wringing your hands together out of nervousness now, but you hardly noticed your own actions as you were so focused on your explanation and avoiding Dante’s hard stare.

“So…I thought about mentioning making a copy of it to you, but you usually just tell me not to worry so much about stuff like that, so I just thought I’d...take matters...into my own hand...” you trailed off at that, realizing there probably wasn’t a good way of phrasing your explanation. You plowed on though, trying not to give him a chance to get mad before you had explained yourself fully.

“Look, okay, basically I was worried her picture would get destroyed for real eventually and I figured you’d just tell me not to worry about it, but that’s what I do: I worry. Especially about people I love and I just thought: if I borrowed it and made a copy, then it would be safe, you know? ‘Cause you’d have a backup. But since I was afraid you’d tell me not to worry about it, I waited until you were out on a job, then I-“ you threw up air quotes with your fingers “-borrowed it and made a copy and returned it before you got back.” You finally took a breath after your rather rushed explanation. You couldn’t look him in the eye the entire time, so you didn’t notice the change in his expression at a certain confession you had yet to realize you’d dropped on him in your frenzied explanation. Had you been watching him, you would have noticed his expression change from that suspicious look, to surprise, to a sudden small grin he couldn’t quite wipe from his face.

You remained oblivious though, since you couldn’t look at him out of fear for the expected anger you were sure you were about to receive. Instead, you just stared at the floor, still ringing your hands together while awaiting the verbal lashing you were sure he was going to give you (and that you were certain you deserved). Dante wasn’t really the type to go yelling at others, but that picture meant a lot to him, especially judging by the way he’d reacted when the devils had destroyed it. It was the first time you’d ever seen him trigger. You were sure you were now about to face your friend’s temper for the very first time. Your idea had seemed like a good one at the time, but now in hindsight, you could see how what you had done wasn’t exactly in the right, no matter your intentions. You’d taken something precious that belonged to him without asking; something irreplaceable. What would you have done if something had happened to his mother’s picture while in your possession? What if something you’d done had irreparably damaged it before you could make the copy?

You flinched when he suddenly stood from his chair, but you still refused to look up at him. He laid the still half-wrapped present on his desk and you watched his feet as he turned to face you. You swallowed nervously.

Dante surprised you though, when instead of the stern lecture you expected, he took hold of your arm and suddenly pulled you to him. You stumbled slightly, not expecting the sudden movement and you practically fell into him as he wrapped his arms around you in a tight hug.

You were stunned for a moment.

This was not the reaction you had expected. Not that it wasn’t nice, but you had been almost certain he was going to be angry with you.

“Um, Dante?” you prodded carefully.

“Thanks,” he whispered softly in your ear before he pulled away slightly to look at you properly. He wore a genuine smile; one you weren’t quite used to seeing. Dante smiled a lot, but even you could tell it wasn’t always the real deal. The man had suffered through a lot of tragedy in his life, after all.

“You’re…not mad? About what I did?” you asked tentatively.

“I suppose I probably should be, but I’ll let that slide considering you did save her picture…and just confessed that you love me.” He winked at you as what he said hit you. Now it was your mouth that fell open in surprise. When had you…?

Then it dawned on you. When you had told him you worried,  _ especially _ about people you loved. Good god, you said it so plainly and you hadn’t even realized.

“B-but how do you know I was talking about you?!” At that his grin got even wider, if that were possible.

“Well, I didn’t actually, but I do  _ now _ sooo…thanks for confirming that.”

You blanched. He hadn’t known for sure if you were referring to him specifically, but you’d fallen right into his trap and just given it away. You buried your face in your hands out of embarrassment. Of all the ways you’d imagined telling him how you felt, doing so by accident was definitely not the way you wanted it to happen. Actually, you hadn’t really planned on doing it at all, but hey, one could dream, right?

Except now that dream was a reality and you had no idea what Dante thought of how you felt. Did he feel anything for you too? What if he didn’t? Would that make things awkward between you two? Would this end your friendship?

You felt his hands gently take hold of yours and start to pull them away from your face, but you flinched out of surprise, so he stopped.

“Hey, you okay?” There was a look of genuine worry on his face.

“Y-yeah. I’m just really embarrassed, is all. I hadn’t really planned on you ever finding out about that. I– can I use your bathroom for a bit? I just need a moment to calm down alone.”

He looked a little disappointed at that, but before you could ask (or even wonder) why, he was already giving you permission for your request, “Yeah, sure. Use the one upstairs. The one down here is still pretty trashed.”

Seeing your escape in sight, you said no more and didn’t waste any time sidestepping around his desk and booking it straight for the staircase. You could feel his eyes watching your every move until you disappeared up the steps to the second floor. Once the bathroom door was shut, you were able to take a breather. You did your best to calm your wildly beating heart, practicing every technique you knew to try and soothe your anxiety.

You weren’t sure how long you were up there, but after what seemed like forever, you splashed some cold water on your heated face and felt at least a _little _more ready to face whatever Dante’s reaction to your unintended confession would be. You opened the bathroom door, half expecting him to be in the hall waiting for you, but he wasn’t. In fact, you could still hear him downstairs; he was talking to someone now. Had Lady or someone else come in while you were upstairs trying to calm down? You couldn’t make out what he was saying and you couldn’t hear anyone else talking yet, so you had no idea who he was speaking to. As you came to the end of the hall, you started to be able to make out what he was saying.

“…thought you were gone for good, but I guess I sort of have a guardian angel looking out for me.”

Confused about what he was saying, you started down the steps as Dante continued speaking, but froze when he came into view. He was alone; there was no one else with him. Instead, he was seated at his desk looking at the picture of his mother you’d given him, which was now completely unwrapped and set in the same place the original had been just days ago before the attack.

“I can’t really get you anything for Christmas, you know, since you’re not here anymore, but I know all you ever really wanted was for me to be happy.” As he continued, you realized he was talking to his mother in the only way he could now. “So...in a way, I guess I can do that for you.”

You had a feeling you shouldn’t be listening in on such a private moment, but you couldn’t will your feet to turn you around and head back upstairs. So instead, you stayed frozen on the steps, watching as Dante had a rather heart-felt conversation with the photo of his mother he’d thought he’d lost forever.

“I never thought I could have that before, but now there’s someone in my life who’s always looking out for me and doing things, like saving your picture, that mean the world to me and... _that _ makes me happy. So much so, that I don’t ever wanna lose that.”

You gasped softly as you realized he was talking about you. You made him happy? And not just with saving his mother’s picture? You went rigid when you saw him glance up at you for a moment with a knowing smile before turning back to his mother’s picture. You weren’t sure if you were supposed to be hearing this, but he made no move to tell you to go away, so you just stood there awkwardly as he continued.

“So maybe it’s time I made that someone a more permanent part of my life. You know, more than just a friend.” He looked at you again, but this time he held your gaze as he spoke, “After all, I am in love with this person. I think, maybe it’s time I finally said something.”

Your mouth dropped open in surprise for the second time that night. You couldn’t believe what you were hearing! He was in love with you too?! You watched as he looked back at the framed photo on his desk. You were glad for that, at least. You were sure your face was bright red right now.

“So, that’s it, Mom. That’s what I can do for you this Christmas. I’ll take another step towards that happiness you always wanted for me.” When he was finished, Dante stood from his chair and took a single step towards you, still at the top of the stairs. It was not lost on you that looking down at him from over the staircase railing invoked a feeling reminiscent of a well-known Shakespearean play.

“So you gonna come down here so I can kiss you or am I gonna have to come up there?”

You managed to shake your head  __‘no_ ’ _ in response, too afraid to say anything because you weren’t sure your voice was currently working. As you started back down to the first floor of his shop, you could feel the heat rise up your cheeks. If your face hadn’t been red before, it sure was now. Even if you hadn’t been able to feel it, his smug smirk told you all you needed to know.

You walked up to him once you reached the bottom of the stairs. From the corner of your eye you could see the picture of his mother sitting on his desk.

Your nervousness rose as he cupped your face with his hands. He must have noticed because he stopped to ask, “This is okay, right?”

_ ‘Of course it is. I’m in love with you too,’ _ was what you wanted to say, but all you could manage at the moment was a shy, “Yes,” accompanied by an equally shy smile.

“Good.” His response was the only warning you got before his lips descended on yours. You couldn’t count all the times you’d imagine this happening and now it was real. All the daydreams you’d ever had about this moment didn’t even compare.

Dante kept it chaste, pulling away after just a short while. There was a smile on his face that promised more to come though, and you couldn’t help but smile back as he pulled you into another warm embrace.

Somewhere far off in the distance, you heard the tell-tale sound of a church bell tolling the stroke of midnight. It was Christmas, finally. You couldn’t have imagined a better start to Christmas Day than this. You looked up and smiled at Dante again, which he returned before pulling you just that little bit closer as he held you tighter.

You watched him as he looked over at his desk and followed his gaze to the new photo of his mother you’d saved for him. She still had that soft smile on her face, as if she was happy for the two of you.

“Merry Christmas, Mom.”

**Author's Note:**

> Gah! I’m such a sucker for sappy stuff.  
>    
> Merry Christmas to all of you who celebrate it! And to everyone: Stay safe out there!


End file.
